Chivi Rants

Muammar Gaddafi has died and risen multiple times in the last hour. According to reports coming in from Libya the former head of state was killed during a NATO raid.

Truth of the matter is there are conflicting reports on whether he has been captured or is in fact dead.

News broadcasters from across the world are showing us images of celebrating NTC fighters. I find that rather condescending considering we all know NATO is behind this. Why are you showing us NTC fighters… Show yourselves.

Until I see a body I’m inclined not to believe these reports. It’s not a high tea, if he was really dead these rebels would be parading his body in the streets of Sirte like a prize.

So the NTC says he died from wounds he sustained during the raid. I’m inclined to think if anything he was executed, lets just be real we all knew that was going to be the final outcome.

Until we receive further information… If they haven’t already thrown his body in the ocean, another Osama Bin Laden moment.

20 minutes later…

Gaddafi has been captured, it’s still unclear whether he is dead. News channels across the globe are showing images of a captured Gaddafi covered in blood.

Confirmation…

Gaddafi is dead. His body dragged through the streets of Sirte.That, no man deserves. How do you beat on a corpse, we have truly lost our humanity.

After thought…

The West does not intervene unless it has political and economic benefit for them - the looting of Libya will now begin in earnest.

“I will die as a martyr at the end,” - Muammar Gaddafi

Today marks the passing of Pan-Africanist Steve Bantu Biko. He believed that the emancipation of the African could only be achieved if black people stopped feeling inferior to their white counterparts. This is a mentality that had been internalised by the African after centuries of oppression and subjugation.

Today I reflect on Biko’s life and what it means to me as a young African woman. I reflect on his philosophy and whether the ideals for which he lived and was subsequently murdered for have been achieved.

It saddens me that I can not say that for which he died and many others in the black movement has been achieved.

The reality is we no longer have leaders of Biko’s stature. The remnants of apartheid are still with us, the disgusting gap between the have’s and have not’s, and economic imbalance that Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) has failed to effectively address. Inadequate housing, sanitation, service delivery and reconciliation that lives only in the minds of those who would like to pretend that South Africa is not a deeply divided society.

These truths are not only relevant in South Africa, but the entire African continent in variation. Biko once said: “We do not want to be reminded that it is we, the indigenous people, who are poor and exploited in the land of our birth. These are concepts which the Black Consciousness approach wishes to eradicate from the black man’s mind before our society is driven to chaos by irresponsible people from Coca-cola and hamburger cultural backgrounds.”

We have become complacent with the place we have been given in society, within Western confines of who we are as people. The black man exists to survive, feed his family and die a quiet death. That is why today, tomorrow, and the day after we should continue to reassess and reflect on who we are as a people in the 21^st century. And how we reconcile with a turbulent history that has left many things broken including our identities.

“Black man, you are on your own.” – Biko

Steve Bantu Biko (18 Dec 1946 – 12 Sep 1977).

If you are in search of a high quality of living Melbourne is the place to be, well at least according to the latest Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Survey.

The survey assessed 140 cities worldwide according to the “challenges that might be presented to an individual’s lifestyle.”

The cities that were at the top of the list are perceived to be in the “very top tier of livability, where few problems are encountered … presenting few, if any, challenges to residents’ lifestyles.”

I was rather disappointed that no African cities made it into the top ten. And at the bottom of the list were seven African cities, Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire), Douala (Cameroon), Tripoli (Libya), Algiers (Algeria), Lagos (Nigeria), Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea) and Harare (Zimbabwe).

I’ve lived in five African cities throughout my life, but only spanning three countries. There is no disputing that there are problems in terms of infrastructure and service delivery.

But in the same vein I have also been to Europe, the United State and Asia and nothing compares to living in an African city.

There’s a certain buzz in African cities, the people, the crowded streets and taxi’s that whiz by you without a care, much to your irritation in the moment.

The flea markets, where you can find anything from a brand new watch to morning slippers.

Fresh produce in abundance at a fraction of what it will cost you in the store. Mind you it’s not mass produced, and before “organic” became a selling point for marketers that is what we were raised on.

The list could literally go on and on…

I do wish every household on our continent had access to electricity, water, and decent sanitation. That we had access to effective transportation systems, decreased crime rates, political stability and less pollution.

That perhaps is not the reality of the African state, and it may not be ideal. But I wouldn’t trade my reality, because as far as I’m concerned our cities are still environments fit to live in and we can only work towards making them better.

Urban renewal.

Source: http://bit.ly/qQzVhT

I’ve heard the elation in Juba is electric with Bismarck Syndrome, Southern Sudan’s new capital. The nation today gained its independence from Northern Sudan.

It is hoped that this divide will bring peace between the “African” South and the predominantly “Arab” North.

This comes after over two million people were killed during a protracted civil war that began in 1983 and “ended” in 2005, with a Peace Agreement between the fractioning parties.

Omar al-Bashir who is the president of Northern Sudan, also attended the independence celebrations in the South. Apparently Southern Sudanese weren’t to happy with him attending, but ey I suppose that was his way of expressing good will to now oil rich Southern Sudan.

I know this is a significant moment, but let’s face it what’s really going to change.

Well at least two things I hope: Sudanese of African decent won’t be massacred at will anymore and they’ll have equal opportunity to better standards of living.

But in the same vein the new Sudanese government faces many challenges, like the civil war along its borders, insufficient infrastructure, and corruption amongst others.

I do however have no doubt that they will do well in creating a vibrant democracy.

My only concern is this “Bismarck Syndrome” we have in Africa. I’m all for independence and liberation, but why are we obsessed with these imaginary lines some European guy drew.

Yes, the very nature of these borders, forced “tribes” from different Kingdoms to claim allegiance to one Nation. The colonist often used divide and rule to create animosity amongst these different nations within the state, leading to the situation (and issue of tribalism) we have in many African countries today.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, yes most Africans have a “tribe”, “clan” or “ethnicity” that they identify with, but at the end of the day we are all Africans.

This is not me downplaying their struggles, it’s just an observation of how we continue to divide ourselves. 

Tis’ all Bismarck Syndrome.

Congratulations to Southern Sudan, independence is a birth right that so many are often denied. I do not claim to nor will I ever understand what the people of that nation had to experience or what they lost to attain it. 

“Freedom is not something that one people can bestow on another as a gift. They claim it as their own and none can keep it from them.” -Kwame Nkrumah

US Universities including ‘reputable’ institutions like Harvard and Vanderbilt that fell off the map somewhere, have reportedly been acquiring land in Africa through British hedge funds.

According to a study conducted by the Oakland Institute, these investments in African farmlands may lead to thousands of subsistence farmers being removed from their land. These acquisitions come with the promise of jobs and rural development, promises that are often not fulfilled! Leading to a situation where social problems are simply exacerbated.

It is believed that US$500 million has been invested in these acquisitions in some of the most fertile regions on the continent, with expected returns of 25%.

Interestingly in Africa Chinese business has often been accused of ‘land grabbing’ the most arable land in the region, when western corporations are doing the same thing ― and they are behind the most lucrative deals.

In Mozambique alone, western hedge funds are working with South African business to purchase large amounts of arable land in the country on behalf of European and US investors. The most startling part of these acquisitions is that the Mozambican government has agreed to waive taxes for 25 years. Mind you these purchases will not be creating a substantial amount of jobs or development.

Here we are faced with a situation of instant gratification, without thought about the long term implications. This is very concerning; how is it that African governments are so naive and money hungry that they would sell our lands for a few pennies. Has history taught us nothing, how blinded are we that we continue to repeat the mistakes of the past?

How was Africa taken by the imperialist? What was the most contentious issue during our liberation struggles? It was the issue of LAND!

So what I can not understand is how the very people who fought for these ideals would once more sell us out for a bottle of ‘whiskey’.

Those who speak of the second coming have been deemed radicals, high on conspiracy theories. But the truth of the matter is – the land issue amongst the African and the former coloniser is still a contentious subject to this day, and now there is a third party.

Don’t be as naïve to think that these corporations are investing in Africa in order to create development, it’s business and here the profit motive rules.

Today I can truly say that our leaders have lost the agenda, you are failing us. Open your eyes, smell the coffee, alas you leave your children with no legacy. For all those who were once worthy of my praise are slowly destroying the ideals of Africa I once had, or they are six feet under wondering if this is what they died for.

“The most piteous thing amid all this was the freed man who threw down this hoe because the world called him free. What did such a mockery of freedom mean? Not a cent of money, not an inch of land, not a mouthful of victuals – not even ownership of the rags on his back.” - W.E.B. DuBois